Richard Burton

As one of the foremost interpreters of William Shakespeare's plays, it seemed both appropriate and ironic that the life of actor Richard Burton would, at times, seem taken from one of the writer's tra...
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Lohan 'chosen to play Elizabeth Taylor'

By:
WENN.com Source
Feb 21, 2012

The Mean Girls star was previously named as one of the frontrunners to play the late star in the Lifetime network biopic, Liz and Dick, which will focus on Taylor's love affair with Richard Burton.
Executive producer Larry Thompson revealed he was in talks with several young Hollywood stars, including Lohan and Megan Fox, about playing the legendary Oscar-winner, who died last year (11).
He said, "It's a very serious selection. It's like casting for Hollywood royalty."
Thompson has now decided to give the job to Lohan, as long as she sticks to the rules of her probation following a string of legal problems, according to Access Hollywood.

In This Means War – a stylish action/rom-com hybrid from director McG – Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) and Chris Pine (Star Trek) star as CIA operatives whose close friendship is strained by the fires of romantic rivalry. Best pals FDR (Pine) and Tuck (Hardy) are equally accomplished at the spy game but their fortunes diverge dramatically in the dating realm: FDR (so nicknamed for his obvious resemblance to our 32nd president) is a smooth-talking player with an endless string of conquests while Tuck is a straight-laced introvert whose love life has stalled since his divorce. Enter Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) a pretty plucky consumer-products evaluator who piques both their interests in separate unrelated encounters. Tuck meets her via an online-dating site FDR at a video-rental store. (That Lauren is tech-savvy enough to date online but still rents movies in video stores is either a testament to her fascinating mix of contradictions or more likely an example of lazy screenwriting.)
When Tuck and FDR realize they’re pursuing the same girl it sparks their respective competitive natures and they decide to make a friendly game of it. But what begins as a good-natured rivalry swiftly devolves into romantic bloodsport with both men using the vast array of espionage tools at their disposal – from digital surveillance to poison darts – to gain an edge in the battle for Lauren’s affections. If her constitutional rights happen to be violated repeatedly in the process then so be it.
Lauren for her part remains oblivious to the clandestine machinations of her dueling suitors and happily basks in the sudden attention from two gorgeous men. Herein we find the Reese Witherspoon Dilemma: While certainly desirable Lauren is far from the irresistible Helen of Troy type that would inspire the likes of Tuck and FDR to risk their friendship their careers and potential incarceration for. At several points in This Means War I found myself wondering if there were no other peppy blondes in Los Angeles (where the film is primarily set) for these men to pursue. Then again this is a film that wishes us to believe that Tom Hardy would have trouble finding a date so perhaps plausibility is not its strong point.
When Lauren needs advice she looks to her boozy foul-mouthed best friend Trish (Chelsea Handler). Essentially an extension of Handler’s talk-show persona – an acquired taste if there ever was one – Trish’s dialogue consists almost exclusively of filthy one-liners delivered in rapid-fire succession. Handler does have some choice lines – indeed they’re practically the centerpiece of This Means War’s ad campaign – but the film derives the bulk of its humor from the outrageous lengths Tuck and FDR go to sabotage each others’ efforts a raucous game of spy-versus-spy that carries the film long after Handler’s shtick has grown stale.
Business occasionally intrudes upon matters in the guise of Heinrich (Til Schweiger) a Teutonic arms dealer bent on revenge for the death of his brother. The subplot is largely an afterthought existing primarily as a means to provide third-act fireworks – and to allow McGenius an outlet for his ADD-inspired aesthetic proclivities. The film’s action scenes are edited in such a manic quick-cut fashion that they become almost laughably incoherent. In fairness to McG he does stage a rather marvelous sequence in the middle of the film in which Tuck and FDR surreptitiously skulk about Lauren's apartment unaware of each other's presence carefully avoiding detection by Lauren who grooves absentmindedly to Montel Jordan's "This Is How We Do It." The whole scene unfolds in one continuous take – or is at least craftily constructed to appear as such – captured by one very agile steadicam operator.
Whatever his flaws as a director McG is at least smart enough to know how much a witty script and appealing leads can compensate for a film’s structural and logical deficiencies. He proved as much with Charlie’s Angels a film that enjoys a permanent spot on many a critic’s Guilty Pleasures list and does so again with This Means War. The film coasts on the chemistry of its three co-stars and only runs into trouble when the time comes to resolve its romantic competition which by the end has driven its male protagonists to engage in all manner of underhanded and duplicitous activities. This Means War being a commercial film – and likely an expensive one at that – Witherspoon's heroine is mandated to make a choice and McG all but sidesteps the whole thorny matter of Tuck and FDR’s unwavering dishonesty not to mention their craven disregard for her privacy. (They regularly eavesdrop on her activities.) For all their obvious charms the truth is that neither deserves Lauren – or anything other than a lengthy jail sentence for that matter.
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In honor of Russian literature, Richard Ayoade will attempt to drive Jesse Eisenberg crazy. And he's asking a Wonderland traveler to help. Obviously there is no explanation necessary, but read on if you'd like.
Last summer, we heard that Eisenberg would be starring in Ayoade's developing film The Double, from a script the director and Avi Korine adapted from Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1846 novella The Double: A Petersburg Poem. The latest to join the project: Mia Wasikowska, star of Jane Eyre and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, is starring opposite Eisenberg in the film, which promises, thanks to all parties involved, to be an artistic sensation.
Eisenberg will play a low-level government employee driven to madness when a man who looks exactly like him, but supercedes him personally, begins working in his office. So, I suppose, Eisenberg will be playing two roles in this film. No word on Wasikowska's character just yet.
Director Ayoade is on the rise in the American spectrum as a director with an incredible, unique vision. To date, the filmmaker has given us such greats as Submarine, and my favorite episode of my favorite show on television.
Source: Deadline

The Transformers star was named as a frontrunner to play the Cleopatra icon in Lifetime network's forthcoming TV biopic Liz &amp; Dick, about Taylor's love affair with Richard Burton.
Fox was said to be in direct competition with Lindsay Lohan for the coveted part, but the brunette beauty insists she has nothing to do with the project.
In a post on her official Facebook.com page, Fox writes, "Contrary to recent media reports I am not, and have never been in discussions to star in the lifetime biopic 'Liz and Dick'. I do however wish the project well in its television debut."

The veteran Broadway star passed away on 7 January (12) of natural causes, according to Variety.
Kucinski famously starred opposite Richard Burton and Julie Andrews in the original 1961 Broadway production of Camelot, and she went on to spend 20 years with the New York City Opera Company before opening her own opera company with her husband Arthur Kucinski.
Her partner, also an opera star, died in 1999.

I honestly hope this all just a ploy to drum up publicity for Lifetime, because the news I'm about to share is rather maddening. Lindsay Lohan is in talks to play the legendary actress, Elizabeth Taylor, in a Lifetime movie. While I do acknowledge that Lifetime isn't always known for lending the highest levels of reality to its original movies, can we all agree that letting Lohan take on the Taylor legacy is just a little indecent?
Let's couple this notion with the fact that the movie isn't a general biopic, instead it is aimed at the screen siren's on-again-off-again romance with Richard Burton and bears the title Elizabeth &amp; Richard: A Love Story. It's one of the most classic of all Hollywood romances and I'm just not sure putting Lohan in the role is right for it. Aside from her own Hollywood legacy, Lohan hasn't exactly shown her acting chops very consistently or to great affect in recent years. Then again, we're talking about a Lifetime movie - not a big screen adaptation.
Then there's the notion that people have been comparing the pair for years considering their smouldering semi-resemblance and the fact that neither could manage to escape media frenzy surrounding their personal lives. They both went from child stars to adult actresses and they both had overbearing stage mothers, but only one of them ended up in stealing jewelry, taking pictures with guns and knives, and going to rehab more often than the nail salon. The other is a true American icon. Guess which one Lohan is.
While I'm obviously pretty dubious about handing over the legacy of an icon to Lohan, I'll put on an air of positivity for just a second and say maybe this is her shot to show us that she can do more than walk around naked and dress like a nun in Machete. Maybe underneath all the scandal and attempted sex appeal, there is a good actress who can lend the character some depth. Or maybe Lifetime will further drown its own reputation by casting her in this role.
Source: TVGuide

Bosses at America's Lifetime network have been working on a film about Taylor since last May (11), two months after her death in March (11).
Independent producer Larry Thompson is overseeing the project, tentatively entitled Elizabeth &amp; Richard: A Love Story, and insiders tells The Hollywood Reporter that Mean Girls star Lohan has been discussing the lead role with TV chiefs.
The film is said to focus on the love affair between Taylor and Richard Burton. The celebrity couple split in 1974 after 10 years as husband and wife, before marrying again in 1975 - the second union lasted just a year.

There’s no denying that while Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin—out this week—carries a vast appeal to the typical young audience that animated movies tend to reel in (and aim toward). But their parents might be just as intrigued, given the fact that the popular story dates back to the 1930s and the decades that followed; it summons the kid in everyone. A lot of animated movies do that, attract not just the tyke set but also the grownup demographic—be it for deeper-than-meets-the-eye subject matter or groundbreaking animation/effects. In honor of the generation-transcending cartoons, here's a few of the movie history's best:
South Park: Bigger, Longer &amp; Uncut
South Park the TV series isn’t necessarily intended for mature audiences, but it most certainly is in the ratings sense. Ditto for Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s too-crude-for-TV, often hilarious, slyly satirical feature-length replication of their Comedy Central show. Kid viewers can certainly appreciate the characters’ voices and perhaps some sound effects – but, well, they probably shouldn’t be allowed to.
Waking Life
Kids aren’t really into talky, trippy, animated, experimental meditations on the Meaning of Life, but then, director Richard Linklater didn’t make Waking Life for them; this wasn’t his Bad News Bears phase. Linklater made the film for his Slackers/Dazed and Confused followers – if not solely for himself – and those viewers, along with critics, enjoyed Waking Life quite a bit. See also: Linklater’s similarly “animated,” similarly out-there A Scanner Darkly.
Corpse Bride
Before Tim Burton made live-action gothic movies for young audiences, he made animated gothic movies for grownups – or at least one such movie: Corpse Bride. The painstaking stop-motion animation in this Burton-co-directed Oscar nominee was beyond amazing, but the story wasn’t far behind – and it was one that kids could at least follow but one that adults (even film-geek adults) could fully sink their teeth into. The simple fact that a movie called Corpse Bride nowadays can even secure a PG rating is fascinating.
Waltz with Bashir
Not suitable for children; not at all. For grownups, though, this Israeli film about the Lebanon War was as good as it gets, and also quite a sight to behold. Director Ari Folman’s decision to animate – and his marvelous execution thereof – what is essentially a war docudrama produced a refreshing take on the potential brutality of man and his war, and the result was appropriately surreal.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Incredibly innovative in its day, technologically speaking, Robert Zemeckis’ live-action/animation hybrid (which unsurprisingly swept the technical categories at the Oscars) had plenty for young’ns to fawn over (even a catchphrase from its protagonist: “P-p-p-p-p-lease, Eddie!”), but it’s also an adult-skewing, noirish detective story – albeit a PG-rated version. Although let’s be honest, Jessica Rabbit, who spawned more porn send-ups than Sarah Palin, was a few inches of flesh away from rendering Roger PG-13, at the very least.
Persepolis
The minimalistic animation of this Oscar-nominated masterpiece from Marjane Satrapi (who adapted her own graphic novel of the same name) isn’t meant to impress or constantly spellbind viewers – which all but eliminates younger movies – but those with patience are greatly rewarded. And educated.
Fritz the Cat
Just saying “based on the comic strip by Robert Crumb” would be enough for parents to prevent their kids from seeing Fritz the Cat, even if Crumb, in some alternate universe, had somehow produced a tame comic strip. But Fritz is about, quite literally, almost everything untame. It also happens to make for quite an interesting, if not always noble or enlightening, viewing. Oh – and it also happens to be the first X-rated animated film.
Most Pixar Movies
It’s not so much that most Pixar movies contain deep or subliminal undercurrents of profundity only decipherable by grownups; it’s that they generally appeal to all ages, because of both their technological wizardry and the depth of the stories. Kids and parents can see the films together – namely the Toy Story series, The Incredibles and Up, whose “Lifespan” sequence can reduce anyone of any age to tears – and interpret them completely differently. Pixar makes films that are, in every way, the very antithesis of exclusive.

The world famous La Peregrina piece - a diamond and ruby rope with a 16th century pearl pendant - pulled in the massive amount at Christie's auction house in New York last week (ends18Dec11), and now a jewellery expert has revealed the item's interesting history.
Former head at Sotheby's Ward Landrigan, who sold the pearl to Taylor's then-partner Richard Burton in 1969, reveals, "Twenty minutes after she put it on, she lost it."
The incident happened in a hotel room in Las Vegas and Landrigan adds, "(Taylor) came back running, showing her cleavage and saying, 'Ward! I've lost the pearl!'
"The room had pink shag carpeting, and I was crawling past a settee when I saw one of (Taylor's) two Lhasa Apsos (dogs), and I heard the crunch. I said, 'Liz, I know where the pearl is'.
"She got the dog to spit it out. I was afraid it (had) cracked because pearls do."

The late actress' personal possessions have gone under the hammer in New York, and earlier this week (beg12Dec11) her jewellery collection fetched a record-breaking $118 million (£74 million).
And the sale is still attracting big spenders - one bidder paid $662,500 (£414,000) for the 1964 lithograph print of Warhol's head-and-shoulders painting of the Cleopatra beauty.
In addition, the dress Taylor wore for her second wedding to Richard Burton sold for more than $62,000 (£38,750), and her collection of designer clothes fetched more than $2.5 million (£1.6 million).
A portion of the auction profits will go to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
Meanwhile, there are more Taylor memorabilia items going under the hammer in California this week (15-16Dec11) at the Profiles in History Icons of Hollywood sale.
Up for grabs will be the lavish trailer Taylor used as a home from home on the set of 1963 movie Cleopatra, the gold ceremonial dress she wore in the movie and the actress and Eddie Fisher's marriage licence from their Las Vegas wedding.

Title

First film with Elizabeth Taylor, "Cleopatra"

First British film role in "The Last Days of Dolwyn"

American film acting debut in "My Cousin Rachel"

Summary

As one of the foremost interpreters of William Shakespeare's plays, it seemed both appropriate and ironic that the life of actor Richard Burton would, at times, seem taken from one of the writer's tragedies. Born into poverty in Wales, he took solace in classic literature and drink while still a young man; he poured that restless energy onto the stage, where critics were quick to compare him to Laurence Olivier. That level of expectation gave Burton entry into Hollywood, where he netted numerous Oscar nominations for "My Cousin Rachel" (1949), "The Robe" (1953), "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1968) and "Equus" (1976), but created a level of expectation for his talents that was nearly impossible to withstand. Punishing alcohol abuse and a tempestuous relationship with actress Elizabeth Taylor helped to undermine his health and standing in the industry; at the time of his death in 1984, he was poised for a comeback that never happened. Burton's legacy was bittersweet - he left the world with a wealth of extraordinary performances, but also with the unavoidable truth that he was capable of so much more.<p>He began life as Richard Walter Jenkins in Pontrhydyfen, a mining town in South Wales, on Nov. 10, 1925, the twelfth of 13 children born to Richard "Dic" Jenkins and his wife Edith, who died at the age of 44 while giving birth to the thirteenth child. Because his father was a heavy drinker and gambler whose lively personality hid a streak of violence, at age two, Burton was adopted, more or less, by his sister Cecilia and her husband, Elfed, and raised in Port Talbot. Another sibling, Ifor, who was 19 years older than Burton, became his de facto father figure, and in later years, his assistant and boon companion. Though he excelled at school, especially in English and Welsh literature, his interests were geared more toward rugby and cricket. At 15, he abandoned school to work as a haberdasher's assistant, but despised the menial work.<p>Already a dedicated smoker and regular drinker by his early teens, Burton was teetering on the edge of a dreary life when his schoolmaster, Meredith Jones, found him at a local youth center and persuaded the area school committee to re-admit him to grammar school. There, he began appearing in school performances, and made his radio debut in a documentary about the Air Training Corps, of which he was a member. His commanding officer at the Corps, Philip Burton, was also one of his schoolteachers, and recognized his growing fascination for poetry, particularly that of Welsh writer Dylan Thomas. Burton rigorously schooled him in both literature and acting, even sending him to Welsh mountaintops to work on voice projection. After receiving his school certificate, Richard was accepted to Exeter College at Oxford for a special term of study. In order to gain admittance as an undergraduate, Philip Burton was required to adopt the young man; after discovering that it was legally impossible to do so, he made Richard his ward, and changed his surname to Burton.<p>Before leaving for Exeter, Burton made his professional acting debut in the play "The Druid's Rest," in 1944. The show was successful enough to move to London, where he received his first positive review in the <i>New Statesman</i> magazine. Those words would solidify Burton's resolve to become an actor. While at Exeter, he appeared in his first significant Shakespearean role - Angelo in "Measure for Measure" - before an audience that included such important theatrical figures as John Gielgud and Terence Rattigan. Conscription briefly interrupted his career, but after serving in the Royal Air Force as a navigator from 1944 to 1947, he headed for London to make his way as an actor. Philip Burton briefly secured leave for his ward to appear in a BBC television production of "The Corn is Green" in 1946, which began a string of small screen appearances. The young actor also secured an acting contract for 500 pounds a year - more than his entire family had earned in their lives.<p>In 1949, he made his movie debut in the British drama "The Last Days of Dolwyn," about a Welshman who returned to his hometown with news of its imminent destruction. Critics took immediate notice of his commanding voice and presence; by the time he had made his second film, "Now Barabbas Was a Robber" (1950), he was earning comparisons to Sir Laurence Olivier. A stage performance in "The Lady's Not For Burning" opposite Gielgud and Claire Bloom further convinced theatergoers that Burton was the next great British actor, a notion that was cemented in 1951 when Anthony Quayle tapped him to play Prince Hal in "Henry IV" and "Henry V." Word of his talent reached Hollywood, where in 1952, he made his American feature debut in the mystery-romance "My Cousin Rachel" opposite Olivia de Havilland. The picture earned Burton his first Oscar nomination, as well as a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. He further impressed by holding his own opposite James Mason in the wartime action-drama "The Desert Rats" (1953).<p>But it was "The Robe" (1953), a Biblical epic that cast him as decadent Roman whose guilt over crucifying Jesus Christ is only assuaged by converting to Christianity, which put him on the American filmgoer map. A colossal hit, it gave Burton his second Oscar nomination, and minted him as a genuine movie star. He soon fell in with the Hollywood establishment via Mason, who introduced him to such major figures as Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland and Cole Porter. All seemed to be charmed by the newcomer, save for one star - a young Elizabeth Taylor, then married to actor Michael Wilding, who found Burton somewhat self-impressed. Based on the success of "The Robe," Burton was offered a seven-year, $1 million contract by 20th Century Fox chief Darryl F. Zanuck. In a move viewed as impetuous by many, Burton refused the offer to return to England for a season at the Old Vic Theatre, where he tackled one of the most demanding roles on stage - Hamlet. Critics were again agog over Burton's abilities, and between 1953 and 1956, he returned to England to give one stellar performance after another in productions of "Coriolanus," "Othello" (as Iago), and "Henry V," which won him the <i>Evening Standard</i> drama award. More importantly, the latter two plays spurred critic Kenneth Tynan to declare him the natural successor to Laurence Olivier.<p>Despite his increasingly busy schedule, Burton remained dedicated to poetry and literature, and gave frequent readings of classic works on BBC Radio. One of the most significant of these was a 1954 radio production of "Under Milk Wood," by his close friend, the Welsh writer Dylan Thomas, who had completed the script shortly before dying at the age of 39 from alcohol poisoning. Burton was devastated by the loss, and like the rest of the cast, performed for free, with all royalties donated to Thomas' family. Even with this ominous warning against an alcohol-fueled life, Burton was earning a reputation as a heavy drinker and womanizer, despite his 1949 marriage to actress Sybil Williams, whom he had met on the set of "The Last Days of Dolywn."<p>Burton returned to Hollywood filmmaking in 1955, playing an Indian doctor who falls under the sway of Lana Turner in "The Rains of Ranchipur" (1955); Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth, whose brother John was Abraham Lincoln's assassin, in "The Prince of Players" (1955); and the title role in "Alexander the Great" (1956). None were successful with ticket buyers, and critics began to note that even at this early stage in his career, Burton was not living up to the initial promise of his first features. His work on stage, however, remained nothing less than stellar, with a Tony Award nomination for 1958's "Time Remembered" adding to the praise heaped on his Iago and Henry performances in England. In 1957, Burton and Sybil Williams moved to Switzerland to avoid the heavy tax penalties in England; their first daughter, Kate, who would later follow her father into the acting business, was born that same year.<p>Burton showed that he had lost none of his fire with a powerful turn as John Osbourne's angry young man in Tony Richardson's "Look Back in Anger" (1959). Though not a box office success, he was proud of his performance. The same could not be said, however, of "The Sea Wife" (1957), a turgid melodrama with Joan Collins as a disguised nun riling up Burton and other survivors of a cargo ship sunk by the Japanese, or "The Bramble Bush" (1960) or "Ice Palace" (1960). Many pundits noted that Burton appeared to be taking these roles for the paycheck - a charge that would be levied against him throughout the remainder of his life.<p>And then came "Camelot," Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's musical about King Arthur and the romance between Lady Guenevere and Sir Lancelot. The production was a challenge almost from its inception; Lerner and Loewe were under pressure to produce a musical that would match the success of their predecessor, "My Fair Lady," and months of work produced a show that, despite its star power - Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet and Roddy McDowall supported Burton's Arthur - ran five hours in length. "Camelot" eventually overcame its obstacles, thanks in no small part to Burton, who was acclaimed by nearly all participants as a calming presence. The show went on to run for over 800 performances, and netted four Tony Awards, including one for Burton as Best Actor. A favorite of then President John F. Kennedy, it also came to symbolize his administration, which was dubbed in the press as "Camelot."<p>After returning to feature work as one of the "42 international stars" that appeared in the massive World War II epic "The Longest Day" (1962), Burton was signed to play Marc Antony in "Cleopatra" (1963), the project that would, for better or worse, change the course of his life and career. A massively over-budgeted epic - at $44 million, the most expensive made then to that date - that put 20th Century Fox into near-financial ruin, the film, which chronicled the forbidden romance between Antony and Egyptian queen Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) was overshadowed in the press by news that Burton and Taylor had begun a very public affair. It soon became the scandal of the day - Burton was still married to Williams, while Taylor was married to singer Eddie Fisher - and earned them the scorn and rebuke of both the Vatican and the U.S. Congress, which voted to prevent them from returning to the United States after filming in Rome was completed. The tidal wave of press only helped to bring curious moviegoers to theaters, which made it the highest grossing film of the year - though still a financial disaster, since its $26 million in ticket sales could never cover its price tag. The impact on Burton and Taylor's career, however, was immeasurable.<p>After divorcing Williams in 1963, with Taylor following suit in 1964, the couple finally married in March of that year, and settled into a routine of Hollywood glamour and excess, with every action covered in detail by the paparazzi. Crowds clamored for a glimpse of them at public events; in Boston, a throng of adoring fans physically assaulted the pair. For a time, they were the entertainment world's golden couple, appearing in no less than seven films together. The most successful of these was "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1967), a searing film adaptation of Edward Albee's play about a battling couple (Taylor and Burton) whose marriage troubles erupt before the horrified eyes of their guests (George Segal and Sandy Dennis). The picture earned Oscar nominations for all four stars, with Taylor and Dennis taking home the trophies. Also popular was the glossy drama "The VIPs" (1963), with Burton as a tycoon who takes advantage of a grounded flight to prevent his wife (Taylor) from leaving to join her lover (Louis Jordan), and "The Taming of the Shrew" (1967), a lush and rollicking adaptation of the Shakespeare play produced in part by the stars themselves.<p>As a solo performer, Burton made the history books by starring in a 1964 production of "Hamlet" that ran for 136 Broadway performances - the longest ever for that play. Directed by John Gielgud and staged with the actors in street clothes, it won Burton his third Tony Award, and was preserved on film by Bill Colleran that same year. He followed this with an Oscar nomination as Thomas Becket opposite Peter O'Toole in "Becket" (1964); John Huston's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' "The Night of the Iguana" (1964) as a defrocked priest tempted on all sides by Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr and Sue Lyon; and then with "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" (1965), a gritty Cold War drama about a burnt-out British spy targeted for defection by the East Germans. The latter earned him critical acclaim and another Oscar nomination. During this period, Burton was among the highest paid and most successful actors in the business, earning over $1 million per picture.<p>But by the mid-1960s, Burton and Taylor's onscreen fortunes began to decline. A series of flops, beginning with "The Sandpiper" (1965) and continuing through "The Comedians" (1967), the baffling "Boom!" (1967) and "Dr. Faustus" (1967), cast a pall on the relationship, both publicly and privately. Burton was stumbling without Taylor as well. "The Staircase" (1969), with Burton and Rex Harrison as gay lovers, was met with total bewilderment, as was the sex farce "Candy" (1968). Only "Where Eagles Dare" (1969), a WWII action drama with Clint Eastwood, saw a positive response from audiences; his turn as Henry VIII in "Anne of a Thousand Days" (1969) earned him an Oscar nomination, though the film itself was critically panned. Offscreen, life was no better. Burton's health was in steady decline due to round-the-clock smoking and drinking. By the time he commenced shooting "Raid on Rommel" in 1970, he was required to remain sober by physician's orders.<p>Burton's film career continued to decline in the 1970s. He gave enervated performances in a number of pictures, with only "Villain" (1971), an offbeat drama which cast him as a gay British gangster, and a film version of Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood" (1971), which he narrated, showing some sign of his former power. The 1972 death of his brother Ifor cast him into a deep depression that brought his marriage to Taylor - once the gold standard for Hollywood unions - to an end in 1974. The first half of the decade was a seemingly endless list of film disasters, with "The Klansman" (1974), a wrongheaded potboiler with Burton as a farmer pitted against Klan members, and "Exorcist II: The Heretic" (1977), an astonishing foolish semi-sequel to William Friedkin's horror classic, with Burton attempting to exorcise a teenaged Linda Blair, among the low points. But a return to Broadway in 1976 with "Equus," about a psychiatrist dealing with a young, sexually troubled patient, was a critical success, as was Sidney Lumet's 1977 film version, which earned Burton a Golden Globe and his final Oscar nomination. On the personal front, Burton reconciled with Taylor, whom he re-married in Botswana in 1975. The press was divided on whether the move was a positive one or not, as the two actors battled just as fiercely as they loved.<p>The union, like Burton's return to the spotlight, was short-lived. While rehearsing for "Equus," he fell in love with Susan Hunt, former wife of Formula 1 racing champion James Hunt. He divorced Taylor in 1975 and married Hunt. Meanwhile, the attention generated by "Equus" soon fell away as Burton returned to a string of unqualified failures, including "The Medusa Touch" (1978) and "Lovespell" (1979). Only "The Wild Geese" (1978), a rowdy, action-packed adventure with Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Stewart Granger as mercenaries hired to rescue an African leader, made any impact with moviegoers.<p>In 1980, Burton returned to theaters with a revival of "Camelot," but his tenure in the show was short-lived. Chronic back pain, along with cirrhosis of the liver and kidneys, forced him to abandon the show and undergo life-saving surgery. In "Wagner" (1983), Burton historically co-starred with fellow legendary thespians Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson, but the film was another disaster; scathing critical reviews forced its producers to withdraw it from screenings and re-edit the project into a television miniseries. That same year, Burton undertook a national tour of Noel Coward's "Private Lives" opposite his famous ex-wife that was lambasted by critics. Adding insult to injury was the failure of his marriage to Susan Hunt, which ended in divorce in 1982.<p>While working on "Wagner," Burton met production assistant Sally Hay. Charmed by her independence and work ethic, he fell in love with her, and they married while on tour with "Private Lives" in 1983. After giving a heartfelt performance as the White Knight opposite his daughter as "Alice in Wonderland" (PBS, 1983), his first film project since "Wagner" was Michael Radford's adaptation of George Orwell's "1984," with Burton as O'Brien, a sinister member of a totalitarian government who tortured John Hurt's low-ranking office worker for the crime of free thought. Though nearly incapacitated by chronic neck and back pain throughout the film, his work was considered among the best he had delivered in decades.<p>After completing the American miniseries, "Ellis Island" (CBS, 1984), Burton returned to Switzerland and began preparing to work on "Wild Geese II." On August 5 of that year, Burton suffered a brain hemorrhage and died at his home in Celigny. He was buried with a copy of Dylan Thomas' poems. Amidst the flood of tributes that followed in his wake was a posthumous Emmy nomination for "Ellis Island" and the film "Wild Geese II" (1985) being dedicated to his memory after he was replaced by Edward Fox. In the years after his death, Burton remained a fixture in the one medium that had witnessed his greatest triumphs - the stage - as a hologram in the live stage show of "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds," a concept album he had narrated in 1978.

Met while filming "Cleopatra" (1963); First married March 16, 1964; Co-starred in "The Sandpiper" (1965) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966); Divorced June 26, 1974; Married a second time Oct. 10, 1975; Second divorce Aug. 1, 1976